A.J. Ellis

After toiling in the minors for parts of nine seasons with just a couple cups of coffee to show for it, all the while watching the Dodgers treat the catcher position like it was wholly unimportant (trading Carlos Santana, allowing Joe Torre to run Russell Martin into the ground, and Rod Barajas not only being on the team but starting games as the primary backstop), A.J. Ellis finally got his shot in 2012 to be the man behind the dish.

Given the opportunity, he certainly did not disappoint, posting a 4.1 fWAR and putting forth the most productive season of any Dodger catcher since Martin’s 5.2 fWAR campaign back in 2008. In 133 games and just over 500 plate appearances, A.J. hit .270/.373/.414/.787 with a .341 wOBA. He walked in 13% of his plate appearances while whiffing just over 21% of the time, and he impressively clubbed 13 homers after never hitting more than eight in any professional season, including stops in minor-league launching pads like Albuquerque.

Two important notes though: first, Ellis did have a 12.5 % HR/FB mark, and I expect some regression in that area in 2013, probably between that mark and his 2011 mark of 8.3%. Second, A.J. did backslide with the bat in the second half (.285/.404/.425/.830 pre-break & .252/.336/.401/.737 post-break), which is not all that surprising for a guy in his first full season in the MLB who was never been known as a great hitter.

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Generally speaking, defense is difficult to quantify when looking at advanced statistics, and it’s most difficult to quantify for catchers. FanGraphs had Ellis as a slight positive behind the dish, and if you go the route of more traditional numbers, A.J. caught 32.7% of would-be baserunners and allowed eleven passed balls. He struck me as a guy who calls a good game and has a good rapport with the staff, but it’s definitely his offensive production that makes him the best option in an organization and one of the best in the NL.

As he heads into his age-32 season — and in need of a new contract that will see him on the receiving end of a nice raise — if Ellis can improve a bit with the glove, continue to draw walks and get on-base, and keep the power anywhere within range of where it was in 2012, he will once again be a boon for the club.

Matt Treanor

He’s married to an attractive and talented woman and he told off T.J. Simers. So … win.

He hit .175/.281/.282/.563 with a .251 wOBA in 2012 (with a negative fWAR) and will be replaced in 2013 by Tim Federowicz.

Well … I hope.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

The quote found in the title basically sums up Don Mattingly‘s logic when he was asked about Andre Ethier‘s struggles against lefties, as reported by Eric Stephen of True Blue LA.

Part of the struggles for Ethier have been against left-handed pitchers, against whom Ethier is hitting .218/.282/.315 this season. But don’t expect Mattingly to pinch hit for Ethier in late-game situations any time soon.

“He’s one of our guys. It’s like pinch hitting for Matt if he struggled against righties. It’s the way it is. If we fall with Matt, we fall,” Mattingly said. “We’ll fall with Andre, unless I have an option that says, ‘I’ve got to do this.’ But most of the time I don’t have that option.”

What about the right-handed Jerry Sands, who is hitting .362 with 13 home runs in 44 games since July 1 in Triple A? It doesn’t sound like he would be much of an option either.

“As we get into September we’ll have a few extra guys, we’ll be able to do some things. Every team is going to have guys who are options,” Mattingly said. “If they were tremendous options they wouldn’t be in Triple A.”

I’m not going to pretend I know more about Jerry Sands than Mattingly or the Dodgers organization. I don’t. They surely have inside information on all their players. However, one just has to call bullshit on this specific bit of logic, don’t we?

Ethier has a .218/.282/.315/.597 line against lefties in 2012 and is .238/.298/.351/.650 against them for his career. Juan Uribe, over the last TWO YEARS, has a .196/.260/.287/.546 line. He is currently 0-for-August.

So to say that Sands wouldn’t be a better option for the team at some point … it’s just ridiculous.

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1) Replacement options in AAA have already proven that they can hit better than the level of the players up for replacement.

2) If they can’t prove anything at AAA and thus can’t get a call to the MLB, then where are they supposed to prove themselves?

3) There are never better options stuck at AAA than in the MLB? A.J. Ellis says hi to Rod Barajas. Paul LoDuca sends his wishes to Charles Johnson. Ad nauseam.

4) Having greater knowledge doesn’t always mean it’s right, nor does it mean it’s free of bias.

5) It doesn’t have anything to do with contracts and egos? Just performance? That’s why Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier had playing time stolen by Juan Pierre, Luis Gonzalez, and Andruw Jones, right? I believe the organization.

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Just terrible, seriously. Please find a better excuse or something, because I hate to believe that’s the actual line of thinking.

Rah rah rah, let’s trade everything to win now but let typical backwards thinking get in the way of making moves that would actually help the team do so when it comes to roster construction.

Awesome.

When the list of Hall Of Fame catchers in Los Angeles Dodgers history is taken into consideration – Roy Campanella & Mike Piazza (not to mention the good showings of Russell Martin & Paul LoDuca) – the recent state of the backstop position in Los Angeles becomes even more depressing.

The future in Carlos Santana gets shipped out, a declining but still solid Martin is let go in favor of veteran retreads like Rod Barajas and Dioner Navarro, and the one guy who can actually benefit the team with his bat (A.J. Ellis) will likely get dumped at the bottom of the lineup. Remember Ned Colletti, the object of the game is to score more runs than the other team.

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Heading into the 2012 campaign, the Dodgers will hand the reigns over to Ellis and his solid defense and excellent on-base skills. Though lacking in the power department, the soon-to-be 31-year-old has a career slash line of .262/.360/.330/.690 with a .314 wOBA (including a career best .346 last season). That pretty much sums his offensive skills up perfectly: decent average, doesn’t hit for power, but gets on-base at a very high level for a catcher. A.J. has appeared in just 87 games at the big league level and his career BB% is 11.5%, though it has trended upwards (10.9%/13.6%).

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It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that A.J. draws walks and gets on, whereas neither Dee Gordon nor Mark Ellis do (recently, at least). So logic would dictate that the guy who gets on-base should bat higher in the lineup, particularly if you want Matt Kemp‘s “Beast Mode” to produce more than solo homers.

Oh, and Matt Treanor was signed to a guaranteed one-year deal with a club option for a second year. His wife is professional beach volleyball player/bikini wearer Misty May, so perhaps she’ll make an appearance or two at the ballpark. That’s about the only plus I can think of regarding him.

Yesterday, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times relayed that catcher/outfielder Ryan Doumit turned down an offer from the Dodgers of almost 3 million dollars over one year, and while it became somewhat of a running joke, I’m quite happy that Doumit doesn’t want to play in Chavez Ravine.

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Over the years, Doumit has been somewhat of a popular choice at catcher in certain sabermetric circles because he possesses a potent bat for the position and there has always seemed to be a massive breakout just waiting to happen.

Now though? He’s 31 and about to be 32 and he’s still injury prone. Furthermore, while his potential with the stick is nice, there’s a reason that the Pirates had been trying to move him off catcher: he’s horrible at it.

Taking the last few years into account, Doumit has been worth about -4 runs throwing, -1.5 runs blocking, and a whopping -26 runs framing for every 120 games behind the plate. That’s an absolutely pathetic total of around -31 runs on defense or just over -3 wins. To put that in context, at his absolute offensive peak back in 2008, he produced about 16 runs with the bat over 120 games.

Doumit’s not anybody’s answer at catcher.

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While going with a combination of A.J. Ellis (starter) and Tim Federowicz (reserve) might not be the sexiest option, it’s undoubtedly better than repeating the 2011 mistake of signing Rod Barajas to a multimillion dollar deal.

Between the on-base skills of Ellis and the defense of Federowicz, Doumit did Ned Colletti and the Dodgers a favor.

Rod Barajas

Rod Barajas subscribes to a simple theory: why be anyone but Rod Barajas when people will continue to give me a job regardless of the fact that I’m a pretty mediocre player? Not a bad idea, considering he doesn’t have many other options.

Since arriving in L.A. after being claimed off of waivers from the Mets, Barajas has been consistent. Outside of a hot first week with the Dodgers in 2010 that earned him a starting gig and way too much cash in 2011, Barajas was his usual self, failing to get on-base enough and playing poor defense, but hitting enough home runs to placate the people.

In 2010, he hit .240/.284/.447 with a .310 wOBA; in 2011, he slashed his way to a .230/.287/.430 line with a wOBA of .307. Barajas once again lost time due to injury, playing in just 98 games while amassing a WAR of 1.3 after posting a 0.9 WAR the previous year. He has never been above a 2.1 WAR, and that came way way back in 2005 with Texas. Barajas did up his BB% from 2010 (3.8% to 6.5%) but also struck out considerably more (15.9% to 21.1%). His ISO dipped from a 2010 mark of .208 to .200, and it fell considerably from what he did in his short stint with the Dodgers to close out the 2010 campaign, when it was an astonishingly high .281.

Barajas made it through only 88 games, and at the age of 36 and with what can only be bum knees by this point, there is absolutely no way he should be starting anywhere next season, let alone in a Dodgers uniform. Of course, his inability to get on-base or defend should have that covered, but as a backup, you could do a lot worse. If he were willing to play for dirt cheap, I’d find him to be a fine backup to A.J. Ellis, so long as he truly did serve as a reserve and power off the bench.

A.J. Ellis

Ellis made the trip between Albuquerque and Los Angeles on a number of occasions in 2011, part due to injury and part due to the pure ineptitude of the man who will follow him in this review. A career minor leaguer save for some scraps of time in the bigs, Ellis was also a guy who could do one thing, and one thing really well: get on via the walk. And again kids, that’s a valuable skill to possess.

Though Ellis actually appeared in less games in 2011 than in 2010, he improved his offensive numbers across the board. His OBP (.363/.392), wOBA (.313/.346), SLG% (.324/.376), wRC+ (93/121), WAR (0.5/0.7), and BB% (10.9%/13.6%) all climbed as his catching mates faltered. Ellis also clubbed his first MLB home runs, hitting a pair in the bigs and adding a pair in AAA, serving as the first long-balls for the 30-year-old since 2008.

Ellis is a better defender than any catcher the Dodgers have trotted out since Russell Martin departed, and his ability to actually not make an out as often as others do (career big league OBP of .360, and a minor league mark that never dipped below .382 in a season) would serve the club well.

Ellis is out of options, so he’ll be a part of the club barring anything unforeseen, and Ned Colletti has already come out and said as much. Just how big of a role he’ll have is all that remains to be seen.

Dioner Navarro

What can be said about Dioner Navarro that hasn’t already been written? Living off of one solitary season back in 2008 (and even then, a 2.5 WAR and .330 wOBA are hardly world-shattering numbers), Navarro was picked up during Colletti’s annual dumpster-diving expedition and was signed to a one-year deal, and a guaranteed major league deal at that.

Navarro proved just why he had been residing in said dumpster, putting up an atrocious season in 64 games and 202 plate appearances. Dioner’s career numbers – which are bad enough to begin with – look Ruthian compared with what he “accomplished” in 2011: .193/.276/.324, a wOBA of just .261, -0.1 WAR, a wRC+ of 62, and a K% of over 17%. Add on to that the fact that Navarro was cut for a reported bad attitude and unwillingness to follow directions, when the Dodgers are catcher-thin and Ellis (bless his heart, with all his on-base skills) is the best option, and it’s clear that this was a marriage doomed to fail from the outset.

Tim Federowicz

Acquired from Boston in the ludicrous three-team deal that sent top prospect Trayvon Robinson to Seattle, Federowicz made his major league debut as a September call-up and proceeded to get just sixteen plate appearances over seven games, starting four of those games behind the dish.

Federowicz has been described by Colletti as a gem behind the plate and a work-in-progress with the bat. So basically, Brad Ausmus, except younger and arriving at the expense of a top prospect. Federowicz, as a member of the Red Sox minor league system, displayed solid plate discipline. However, with a line of just .278/.341/.424/.765, and only one season with a wOBA over .334 before arriving in the offense-rich environment of AAA Albuquerque, Federowicz could stand to get a full season in the minors.

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FUN FACT: Hector Gimenez started one game at catcher in 2011.

After yesterday’s debacle, today certainly seemed to be must see television, but after Clayton Kershaw pitched normally to Gerardo Parra in the third inning, it did seem like today’s game would proceed normally.

In the top of sixth inning, however, with Parra at-bat for the second time, Kershaw threw a strike and then grazed Parra on the elbow with an inside fastball, leading home plate umpire Bill Welke to eject him.

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Thoughts on it?

Jim Bowden: “Clayton Kershaw in an obvious Cy Young Award race with Roy Halladay is ejected after 5 scoreless innings by HP umpire Tim Welke w/o warning?”

Tim Brown: “Total overreaction by Welke. That’s just sad.”

Jimmy Bramlett: “I think I’ve been a very impartial observer w/r/t the #Dodgers this season, but that’s the biggest load of bullshit I’ve seen this season.”

Clayton Kershaw: “I understand he has a job to do, but just pay attention to the game and understand what’s going on a little bit better.”

Clayton Kershaw: “First at-bat, I threw them all away, and he hit a double. Next at-bat, I have to pitch him in. It’s just unfortunate in my opinion.”

Rick Honeycutt: “I think it was a BS call. If we were going to hit him, it’d be in his back”

As for me, as I said earlier on Twitter, I just think that if Kershaw wanted to hit Parra intentionally, he would have done it in a way that the intention was explicitly clear.

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Reaction after the pitch was amusing though, leading to GIF fun.

WAT

Don Mattingly getting insanely mad was definitely the highlight of all this.

I gotta admit, it was a fun couple of days.